Try Again
by JaSam4ever87
Summary: It's the summer of 2008, everyone's moving forward after a year of painfully choices. Until secrets are exposed that bring up old feelings causing everyone involve to take a long look at themselves and wonder if this is the way they want things to be.
1. Chapter 1

Jason walks through the door of his penthouse which had a few boxes sitting in the living room. He was about to move out of his penthouse and in with his fiancée Elizabeth and be a family with their son Jake and her son Cameron. He pushes a few boxes off to the side, trying to tighten up a little because he was expecting some company. Her name was Claudia Zacchara and she was coming over to make a truce with him and his business partner Sonny. Just as he was about to pick up a box, there was a knock at the door. "Claudia" he thinks to himself. He walks over to the door and opens and it was indeed Claudia. She stood in his doorway wearing short black spaghetti strapped dress with black heals with her black leather jacket hanging off of her right index finger behind the right side of her back. She tosses her long brunette hair back with her left hand before asking, "Can I come in?" Jason steps aside to let her in. She drops her coat on the desk next to the door before moving further into the penthouse. Jason follows her in. She turns around and immediately gets off topic.

"So you're making the big move? Have you set a wedding date yet? Do I get an invitation?"

"I thought you came over to make a truce? If not you can leave."

"Getting right to the point, what? No four play?"

"Claudia!"

"Say my name again, but afterwards kiss my lips."

Claudia walks slowly closer to Jason who turns his head away from her. When she reaches him, she cuffs his chin with her right hand and turns it back in her direction. They look into each other's eyes before he knocks her hand away from her face.

"Owe!"

"Leave, now!"

"What about our truce?"

"If that's what you really want, then why the games?"

"I'm not playing any games. The truce was for us to have sex, duh. I said this before."

"I thought you were joking."

"What would make you think that?"

"Well you laughed after suggesting it."

"I did, didn't I? So are you or aren't you?"

Jason gives her a long dark stare.

"I'm going to take that as a no."

Claudia walks pass Jason to retrieve her jacket then opens the door to leave. She stops and turns around and says "You'll regret this" before shutting the door. Jason takes a deep breath before heading over to the couch and lays down to take a nap.

An hour later, Spinelli and Maxie enter the penthouse kissing before slamming the door and hitting the floor not even noticing Jason on the couch. Maxie's on top straddling Spinelli who didn't know what to do with his hands, so he decides to put them on her butt surprising Maxie in a good way that causes her to stop kissing him for a moment. She smiles with enjoyment, but soon continues. Jason sits up and rubs his eyes awake. He stands up and walks over to see them on the floor. He stops and quickly turns away.

"Um, you guys aren't alone." Jason says with his head still turned away.

Maxie lifts her head up a bit with her medium length blonde hair covering her face. She tries to get to her feet at the same time as Spinelli and they end up falling over each other making Jason even more uncomfortable than before. He lets out a big sigh before heading further into the living room. After a few moments of this, Spinelli and Maxie were back on their feet straightening out their clothes and hair.

"Spinelli, I thought you said that the penthouse was all your now."

"Well I will once Stone Cold moves in with Fair Elizabeth and the wee ones."

"Well when that happens, we can finish what we started." Maxie says before stomping out of the penthouse, slamming the door behind her.

Spinelli watches as Maxie leaves before putting his hands on his head and spinning around to face Jason who wears a confused look on his face.

"Why Stone Cold, why must you be here. I was this close to making my fantasies a reality. Never mind, I've said too much already."

Spinelli walks over to the couch and sits down. He stares at the ground waiting for Jason to say something.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"Like what?"

"Like what has The Jackal been fantasizing about and maybe give a little advice."

"I'm guessing sleeping with Maxie. And for advice wise, if you really want to and she gives you another chance, then use protection because the last thing that you two are ready for is a baby."

"Wow, that's right and great advice."

Jason and Spinelli stared at each other for a moment before they both started to make their way to the door. Spinelli starts to walk upstairs before turning around to say one last thing to Jason.

"I'm going to my pink room, but not for long. I'm going to move into your room when you leave. When is that exactly?"

Jason tries not to give Spinelli a little smile. "I'm going to Elizabeth's. I'll move the rest of this stuff tomorrow."

Spinelli gives Jason the thumbs up before heading upstairs. Jason opens the door and heads to Elizabeth's.


	2. Chapter 2

At Elizabeth's, she was holding Jake as she watches Lucky read a story with Cameron laying next to him on the couch in the living room. Before long, both Cameron and Jake were fast asleep. They took both boys upstairs and placed them in their beds and kissed them good night before heading downstairs to say their goodbyes to each other.

"Thanks for letting me read to the boys tonight."

"No thank you. The boys love it when you come over. It's just...next time it might be a little weird for them."

"How so?"

"Well, Jason's in the process of moving in."

Elizabeth starts to say just as Jason walks through the door.

"I see, Jason will be taking over the duties now. No need for Lucky right? I get it, no need to explain."

"Lucky, that's not how it is and you know it!"

Elizabeth starts, but Lucky had already made his way past Jason and out the door. She lowers her head and begins to tear up. Jason walks over to her and puts his arms around her shoulders. She lifts her head up and puts her arms around him and leaned into his chest. He puts his arms around her rubbing her down from head to half way down her back. She pulls away and looks into his eyes. She leans into kiss him and he returns the feeling. Before long, they're removing each other's clothes and making love on the couch.

Lucky returns home to a dark house feeling guilty for what he said to Elizabeth. He picks up the phone to call her and apologize, but decides to put it back down thinking the ringing of the phone might wake up the boys and the fact that Jason's there and they might want some alone time. He decides that he'll talk with her tomorrow in person. He drops his keys on the table by the phone before collapsing on his couch and begins to stare at the ceiling just as he hears keys rattling and the front door opening. With a flick of the light, Sam enters with a few suitcases in hand. She drops them on the ground and rushes over to the couch to greet Lucky. Lucky stands up to embrace her, lifting her a little off the ground. He places her back on the ground and gaze into her eyes. The both smile and let out a little laugh as they turn around and realize that the door was still opened.

"I meant to close that."

"I'll get it and the bags, you just sit and relax."

Lucky rushes over to the door to close it and to grab Sam bags and placed them in the living room. Sam sits down on couch and stretches a bit as Lucky joins her on the couch.

"Tell me all about your trip. What did you guys do? Did you miss me as much as I missed you?"

"I had a blast with Alexis and my little sisters. We went to the beach and shopping everyday."

"Well yeah that's a given being in Hawaii and you guys being girls."

"What? I brought you something."

Sam gets off the couch and opens up one of her suitcases. A few bags fall out and Sam picks up a blue one before returning to the couch. She opens up the bag and pulls out a lei that had baby blue, red, and white flowers and put it around his neck.

"A lei? Five days of shopping and all I get is a lei?"

"I would have gotten you one of those grass skirts, but I don't think that's your style."

Sam could barely make out without laughing. Then they both laugh. Lucky started to rub his hands along Sam's legs as he move closer to her.

"You never answered my other question. Did you miss me as much as I missed you?"

"I don't know, how much did you miss me?"

Lucky leaned in and kissed Sam softly on the lips almost cutting off her response. She returned his kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. Lucky wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her on top of him as then lean back on the couch. Sam slowly pulls away with her eyes closed. She opens them to gaze into Lucky's eyes gorgeous green eyes.

"You know, what's the best thing about going away for five days without you? I can come back and devote every single second I want with you because I'm sure Alexis and my sisters are tired of seeing me and well I'm sure tonight will be the best night we've had in a long time."

"That's what I'm hoping for."

Sam gets off the couch pulls Lucky up with her. She guides him up the stairs and to their room to make love.

Back at Elizabeth's, Jason was finishing putting on his shirt as Elizabeth comes out of the kitchen with a plate of brownies and two cups of milk. She sets the milk on the table then cuddles up with Jason on the couch with the plate of brownies. She picks one up and stuffs it Jason's face.

"What, why did you do that?"

"I thought you liked brownies."

They both laugh as Elizabeth helps remove the brownie around Jason's mouth.

"So how did things go with Claudia?"

"I don't want to get into that."

"That bad, huh? Anything interesting happened since we last saw each other?"

"Well I fell asleep at the penthouse and woke up to Spinelli and Maxie making out on the floor."

"Spinelli and Maxie? Wow, I didn't think that she would be into Spinelli like that."

"Me neither, but apparently so. So what did I walk in on with you and Lucky?"

"He came over to read to the boys. He's still hurt that he's not going to be in their lives as much anymore."

"Understandably so."

"I know, but I wish he would take it better. I hate to argue with him. I just all of us to get along."

"So do I. Maybe you should talk to him about this tomorrow."

"He might be too busy with Sam coming home and all."

"She went to Hawaii with Alexis and her sisters' right?"

"Yeah, we should go on a family vacation. I mean when you get the time."

"I would love that."

Jason and Elizabeth share a short sweet kiss before eating a few brownies and washing them down with some milk.


	3. Chapter 3

Claudia is up bright and early the next morning yelling to someone on her cell to find anything he can on Jason Morgan. She closes the phone and slips it one of her back pockets of her tight black jeans. Her brother, Johnny comes downstairs to find his sister standing in the hallway.

"Morning John, had sweet dreams?"

"Is finding all that you can on Jason Morgan part of the truce?"

"Listening to my conversations John, what have I told you about that?"

"I'm worried about you. You came home late."

"Well I'm fine and no there's no truce. I'm going full force with my plan to destroy the Cornithos Morgan organization for good."

"What happened?"

"Nothing you need to worry you little head about."

Claudia messes with Johnny's hair before walking away. Johnny stares curious to what when on between Claudia and Jason and what was next.

Jason enters the office in the back of the coffee shop to find Sonny already there leaning back in the roller chair dressed in his usually attire suit and tie, Jason the same as well blue jeans and a t-shirt.

"What happened with Claudia last night?"

"There's no truce."

"She wanted to sleep with you, did she? And you said no, therefore no truce."

Jason gives a little nod in agreement.

"She knew you wouldn't sleep with her. That's why she did it, she doesn't want a truce.

"That makes sense."

"Now we've just got to figure out what she's up to."

Lucky gets off the elevator on the 10th floor of General Hospital to see Elizabeth hard at work at the nurse's station in baby blue scrubs. She places some papers in a vanilla folder then puts the folder on top of some others. Lucky walks up to her slowly until he's almost in front of her. She lifts up her head and smiles.

"Hey Lucky, I was going to call you after I got off so we can talk about what happened last night."

"I was such an idiot, I'm so sorry for my actions and what I said. I must have looked like a giant crybaby."

"No, I understand where you're coming from and I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. You're welcomed to come see the boys when you want to.

"Thank you, but I should give you and Jason some space right now so the boys can get use to having him around."

"Okay, but if you change your mind just let me know."

"I will."

"Great."

Elizabeth and Lucky smile at each other as Epiphany walked up behind Elizabeth.

"Nurse Webber, is Detective Spencer a patient?"

"No we were just talking."

"Why don't you find a patient and talk to them."

"I was just leaving Nurse Johnson, see you later Elizabeth."

"Okay." Elizabeth waved as Lucky headed back over to the elevator.

Back at the coffee shop, Sam was waiting at the counter for her coffee dressed casual in a pair of blue jeans, black tank top, and black sneakers with her long brunette hair curled and hanging down her back. She takes her cup of coffee and head toward the door when Maxie walked in wearing a short white strapless dress with matching flip flops. They stopped and looked at each other for a moment before they hugged.

"When did you get back?"

"Last night."

"And you didn't think to call?"

"Well the first thing I did was go home to Lucky and well you know what happened after that."

Sam and Maxie sat down at the nearest table to finish their conversation.

"Well at least you got some last night. I was derailed. Maybe it's a sign."

"You and Spinelli right, what happened?"

"Yes Spinelli and one name, Jason."

"He walked in huh?"

"He was already there. Jason's moving in with Elizabeth and is giving Spinelli the penthouse. We thought he would already be there when we went back to the penthouse, but no he was there and thank goodness he stopped us before you know, we really got things started."

"Wow, yeah that would have been embarrassing. Why do you say it was a sign?"

"Maybe we're meant to make our first time together special. Not some slop fest all over the penthouse."

"Awe…your first time together."

"Oh shut up!" Maxie throws a napkin at Sam as they both laugh. "Wow, we were just talking about you."

Maxie was speaking to Jason who had just walked out the office and over to the girls.

"Me, why?"

"Is the memory lacking? Gees, it just happened last night."

"Oh well, don't let me interrupt you guys."

"What, no stay away from Spinelli you're too bad for him? Or did you give Spinelli that speech after I left?"

"What you and Spinelli do is what you guys do. I won't stop you…again."

Maxie and Jason exchange smirks as Sam looked on trying not to laugh. Jason breaks the staring contest and just walks away. Maxie rolled her eyes and focused them back on Sam.

"You know he wanted to tell me to stay clear of Spinelli. He's so annoying, how did you put up with that for 3 years is beyond me."

"I'm sure he feels that maybe you're not the right match for Spinelli, but he won't tell Spinelli that. He's going to let Spinelli make up his own mind about you and if it works then good for him if not, then they still have their friendship."

"You know him so well. Why did you guys break up anyways?"

"Choices that we both made."

"Ugh, the same boring response." Maxie says as her cell rings. She pulls it out of her white clutch and looks at the id, it's Spinelli. She smiles a little at the sight of his name. Sam takes the hit and gets up to leave.

"Saved by The Jackal, see you later."

"Yeah later." Maxie says as she snaps out of her gaze and answers it. "Hello Spinelli?"

"Maxie hey, I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me at Kelly's?"

"I would love to, I mean, that sounds cool."

"Awesome I can't wait, I mean, see you then."'

They both hang up their cells at the same time.


	4. Chapter 4

Jason enters his penthouse for the last time. Today he plans on packing the rest of his stuff and moving it into Elizabeth's house. He walks over to the boxes and taped them up before loading them in his escalade truck. He had only two more boxes to move. He started to tape one of them when he knocked over the other spilling over some of its context. It was a smaller box filled with pictures. He got down on the floor to place them back into the box when he noticed a picture he hasn't seen in awhile. It was of him and Sam that Emily took about a year ago of them. He didn't know what made him more sad, the fact that he and Sam looked so happy together or the fact that Emily had taken it and that she was dead now. Before he could figure it out, there was a knock at the door. It was Carly. He stuffs the picture back into the box and set in on the desk before answering the door. He opens the door and Carly wastes no time barging in to stop him from moving out in her black slacks and dark blue strapless shirt.

"Good, you've only packed a few things so it's not too much to unpack."

"Carly if you're here to stop me from moving in with Elizabeth, you can just leave."

"But Jason, you're making a huge mistake moving in with her. She's not going to be able to handle your life style. She's too noisy and she's going to get hurt and you shouldn't go."

"Too late, my stuff is in the truck."

"Ugh Jason, you didn't even think this through."

"I have and I'm going to marry Elizabeth and be a real dad to Jake and Cameron."

"That's all so sweet. She's pregnant again, isn't she? Gees, has she heard of birth control? How about abstinence?"

"Carly, Carly! Elizabeth isn't pregnant. I love her and she loves me and we're going to be a family. End of story!"

"Now she has you reciting poetry? Jason, you can't be yourself with her. You've changed and not for the better. You seem more distant and annoyed especially when Elizabeth is brought up, why is that?"

"Because I don't want to talk about it."

"You're settling, you're settling for Elizabeth aren't you? You want time with your son, but you know you can't get that unless you marry Elizabeth."

"No, Carly you like to cause problems where there aren't any. I'm not settling for Elizabeth, I want to be with her. End of story."

"Okay, whatever. Just don't say I didn't warn you. As your friend, I will support you in your mistakes and be here when they blow up in your face. You've done it for me so many times and I will return the favor."

"Fine, if that's it, I'd like to get back to moving. I'm going take this box down to the truck, when I come back you'll be gone right?"

"Right behind you."

Jason grabbed the bigger box, leaving the box with the pictures inside. Carly heads for the door catching her silver bracelet on the corner of the picture box. She stops to get it loose when she decides to peek inside the box. First she sees a picture of her with the boys taken last Christmas and makes her tear up a bit thinking of her oldest Michael still being in a coma in a facility outside of Port Charles. As she puts the picture back inside the box, she sees the picture of him and Sam. She picks it up and smiles at it. "Bingo" she thinks in her head. She quickly folds the picture and puts it in her pocket and closes the box as Jason walks in. Jason stares at her with suspicion. Carly smiles and Jason becomes more suspicion.

"Did I miss something? Why are you smiling?"

"No reason, I have to go!"

Carly whizzes past Jason and out the door to cause some trouble. Jason shakes his head as he walks over to the box of pictures. He contemplates looking into the box again, but just decides to close it up and take it with him. He takes a deep breath as he looks around the penthouse he's lived in for years realizing that he's going to leave it behind for a house with Elizabeth and he boys. He takes another deep breath as he lifts up the box and heads for the door as Spinelli comes in wearing his usual beanie and casual wear.

"Stone Cold! I need your help. I have a lunch date with the Wounded Blonde one, Maxie and I don't know what to do." Spinelli stops for a sec to look around and notices the boxes that were in the living room were all gone except the one that was in Jason's hand. "You're really leaving?"

"Yeah, this is the last one. Spinelli, just be yourself. I'm sure that's what Maxie would want you to do."

"I'm going to miss you Stone Cold." Spinelli says to Jason trying to hold back the tears. He moves slowly toward Jason who's staring at him like "what's going on?" Spinelli opens his arms and hugs Jason on his right side, squeezing him.

"Spinelli, I'll still be around just not here as much." Jason says, but Spinelli wouldn't let him go.

"Spinelli! You date with Maxie."

Spinelli let's go fast and takes a look down at his watch and realized he was running late.

"I have to go. I'll see you later. We'll do lunch next time."

Spinelli rushes out the door with Jason close behind.

Elizabeth walks through the door of her house with a bag of groceries. She only worked a short morning so she could be home when Jason moves his stuff in. She has changed out of her scrubs and is now wearing a baby blue tank top and jean capris that are cuffed at the bottom and sneakers with athletic socks. She kicks the door closed and moves into the living room to put the bags down. Before she could finish putting them on the table, she gets a knock at the door. She walks to the door to open it and it's Carly.

"Hi Elizabeth, how are you today?" Carly asked with a huge smirk on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you want Carly?"

"Is that anyway to greet your guest?"

"I didn't invite you over."

"Well get use to me because now that Jason's moving in, I will be here a lot often to visit my godson."

"Oh no, you won't be visiting Jason nor Jake, who is in no way shape or form your godson, so you should get use to me shutting the door in your face."

Elizabeth attempts to shut the door in Carly's face, but Carly blocks it.

"Get use to me doing that." Carly says as she barges in.

"What is so important that you just had to come in? Trying to get me to reconsider letting Jason move in so we can be a family? If that's the case then you can leave right now, because nothing you can say or do will change my mind."

"Funny you should say that, really. I mean I'm not going to break you guys up. Jason has made it very clear to me that he's made his choice and that's you, but what I found in his apartment says different. I mean I might be reaching with this, but I thought that you still should know."

"I don't care what it is, Carly. You should just leave before Jason gets here. You wouldn't want him to see your true colors."

"Maybe it's time you see his."

"Carly leave." Elizabeth says pointing to the door.

"If what I found doesn't worry you, then it wouldn't matter it you saw right?"

"Well you didn't come in here with anything so there's no proof that whatever you found exists."

"That's because it's small enough to fit in my pocket."

Elizabeth stares at Carly with curiosity as she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the picture she stole from Jason's. He holds it to her chest and unfolds it to take another peek at it before showing Elizabeth.

"A picture? That's what this is all about?"

"It's of whom that you should be worried about." Carly turns the picture around to show Elizabeth. She looks at it and quickly turns away.

"So what do you think?"

"A picture of Jason and Sam?"

"Yeah I found it in a box of pictures he had on his desk."

"Please, he probably hasn't been in that box in years."

"Maybe so, but there was a picture of me in there with the boys at Christmas time. This past Christmas when he was over Sam and she was with Lucky, but I'm sure it's nothing. Though it was the second picture. Something to think about huh?"

"That means nothing."

"I'm sure it doesn't, but I'm sure you'll ask to get the full story." Carly walks toward, but stops and places the picture on a table.

"Just so you can have some to reference from. Wow, I have never seen Jason smile so big before."

Carly makes her way out the door leaving Elizabeth standing in the living room with her arms crossed. When Carly is out of site, Elizabeth walks over to the picture and picks it up. She studies the picture and notices that Carly is right, that's the biggest smile that she's ever seen on Jason's face.

Spinelli rushed through the doors of Kelly's then stopped to fix his hair before putting his beanie back on his head. He suavely made his way over to Maxie whose back was to him at their usual table. She had a mirror up to her face putting lip gloss on when she caught his reflection in it. She spun around startling him.

"Maxie, you look beautiful."

"Don't beautiful me, you're late."

"Did you just check your wrist? You don't have a watch on." Spinelli says pointing to Maxie's arm. She looks at her arm again before continuing her rant.

"That's not the point. The point is, is that you said met you for lunch not sit and wait for you to get here while I starve."

"Well why don't we just sit eat then."

"Don't suggest what we should do when you show up late."

"So you don't want to eat?"

"Yes I want to eat. Sit down!" Maxie and Spinelli have a seat. Even though they've been to Kelly's a million times, they still look at the menu.

"I'm sorry." They say in unison.

"No you first." They repeated.

"You go ahead Spinelli."

"I'm sorry for being late. I was talking with Stone Cold. We were having our last moments together before his takes that big step toward a future with his Fair Elizabeth."

"Ewe…anyways, I'm sorry for yelling at you for being late without hearing the reason behind it which is a good reason."

"Apology accepted?"

"Apology accepted."

"So are you ready to order?"

"I have a better idea, let's go to your penthouse."

"But I thought you were hungry?"

"With all you're talking about leaping and Elizabeth has caused me to lose my appetite….for food anyways."

Maxie grabs Spinelli's hand leads him out the door.

Back at Elizabeth's, Elizabeth had just finished putting the food away and starting lunch for her and Jason. She sits on her couch looking at the picture that Carly had left trying to figure out why Jason would still have a picture of him and Sam and if Carly hadn't found it, would he have brought it into their house? Would he take it out and look at it when she wasn't around or when things got tough? Or was Carly just trying to stir up trouble? Either way, Elizabeth was feeling a little insecure about herself and her relationship with Jason. She was about to put the picture on the table when the door opened, it was Jason. She slipped the picture in her pocket and stood up to greet him.

"Hey ready to move in?"

"Yep, I've got my stuff in the truck so whenever you're ready to show me where to move my stuff."

"I can't wait to get you moved in, but first why don't we have some lunch."

"Sounds good to me."

Elizabeth decides not to confront Jason about the photo at this time. She and Jason headed into the kitchen to have lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam enters the park with a smoothie in her hands. She walks around enjoying the breeze against skin and hair. She looks around at the kids playing with other kids and their parents chasing after them when she feels a bit of sadness come over her because she knows she won't get the chance to run around the park after a kid. Not her own anyways, maybe her sisters or her little cousin Spencer, but she'll never get to have her own kid something she wished she could have. She continued to walk hoping to get her mind off of babies when she bumped right into Lucky dressed casually with sneakers, blue jeans, and a green shirt that brought out the green in his eyes. Seeing him made her smile and her worries seem to fade away.

"I'm here, not later am I?"

"Right on time, so how did things go with Elizabeth?"

"We came to an understanding. Everything's good right now."

"Great, that's good. Things are starting to look up."

"Yeah they are. You know I think we have some catching up to do."

"Well I'm up for that."

Lucky and Sam locked arms and head back to their house to "catch up".

Meanwhile, Maxie and Spinelli arrived at his penthouse. They walk in and Spinelli stands in amazement that he has the place of his own until Maxie walks past him, then starts to get nervous because he's alone with Maxie and he knows what's about to happen. He could feel himself start to sweat, so he quickly tries to wipe it away so Maxie couldn't see. He starts to lean on the desk to balance himself. Maxie turns to look at him and he jumps up trying to act natural. Maxie walks over to him and gets a hold of his hands and looks into his eyes with a smile. Spinelli tries to muster up a smile to show he's not the slightest bit nervous.

"So Spinelli are you ready?"

"Ready? Yes, I'm so ready. I was born ready."

"Great, then let's do it!"

Maxie lets go of Spinelli's hands and walks into the living room. She turns and looks behind her to see that Spinelli is frozen in place.

"Come on Spinelli, I thought you were ready."

"I am, just I think we should slow down. Pace ourselves, stretch even maybe."

"Stretch, Spinelli? What your finger? Because there's no way I'm going to let you write in my notebook." Maxie opens her clutch and pulls out a small notebook and a pen. Spinelli stands there puzzled.

"So do you want to decorate the penthouse or are you going to keep it like this which I hope you chose decorating."

"Oh you want to help me decorate. Ha!" Spinelli starts to laugh a bit.

"What did you think I meant?

"Um…let's decorate." Spinelli starts to relax and heads into the living room. Maxie rolls her eyes before starting pointing out the things she thinks he should change.

Across town, Lucky and Sam are lying naked in bed together after making love with huge smiles on their faces. Sam lays her head on Lucky chest as he plays with her hair. She starts to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Lucky laughs.

"The fun we're having. No drama, just love."

"Yeah, it is weird. Everything seems to be going right. But we better not jinx it."

Just as Lucky says that, the doorbell rings.

"Who could that be?"

"Our jinx I presume." Lucky gets up and puts his clothes on to answer the door. The doorbell rings again.

"Don't move, I'm going to get rid of whoever it is." Lucky laughs. Sam gives him a smile before reaching forward and playing with her toes. She thinks she should get a pedicure soon.

Lucky makes his way to the door as the doorbell rings again. He opens it up and it's Carly. Lucky seems surprised.

"Don't be surprised to see me cousin."

"Cousin, since when do you call me cousin? What do you what I'm in the middle of something."

"I'm sure you are, with Sam I assume."

"Not that it's any of your business."

"May I come in?" Carly asks, but she enters before getting her answer.

"Sure why not." Lucky closes the door behind her and follows her into the living room where she's already started looking at the pictures. She finds one of interest and picks it up for a closer look. The picture had Lucky, Elizabeth, Cameron, and Jake all smiling in it.

"Does this picture bother Sam at all?" Carly turns the picture around for Lucky to see.

"No because she's the one that took the picture and she was the one that put it in a frame."

"How noble."

"Is there something you wanted?"

"Yes, yes there is. I'm throwing Morgan a birthday party and wanted to know if you and Sam wanted to attend? Now that Michael isn't around, Morgan could use all the family and friends he can get to celebrate his big day."

"Yeah of course, I'm sure Sam would love to come also."

"Great. I'm going to have it on Saturday at my place and don't forget to bring a gift. Morgan loves gifts."

"Will do."

"Great I hope to see you guys then." Carly flashes a smile at Lucky as she walks by to leave. Lucky turns around to watch her leave wondering what she's really up to. Carly walks outside and closes the door behind her. She leans up against and says to herself, "Okay Carly, this whole picture thing is too much like child's play to you. It's time to take this to the next level.


	7. Chapter 7

At the coffee shop, Claudia shows up wanting to speak with Sonny. She walks up to Max who stops her from going into Sonny's office, but Sonny was right behind him and said it was okay for Claudia to come back. Claudia gave Max an evil grin as she walked past him back to Sonny's office. She walks into the office and closes the door as Sonny sits in his chair.

"What do you want and make it snappy I have better things to do."

"Oh I bet you do Michael Cornithos Jr. Don't worry I won't take long."

"Well let's get it started."

"Okay, well you probably know by now that Jason and I didn't make a truce last night. So I'm here to say that I can't wait to bring you guys down."

"Oh you think you can bring us down?" Claudia takes a seat on Sonny's desk.

"No, I know I can bring you guys down. Just wait and see Cornithos. You'd be surprised at skeletons you could find lurking in one's closet." Claudia teased as she gave Sonny a wink and headed out the door. Sonny rubs his chin trying to figure out what Claudia could mean. He makes a face like he's got it then picks up his cell.

Back at Elizabeth's and now Jason's, Elizabeth is feeling more relaxed and is enjoying watching Jason carrying his stuff into the house and bossing him around of course. They were laughing and joking around until they were interrupted by Jason's cell ringing. It was Sonny so he had to answer.

"Yeah what's going on?"

"It looks like Claudia's already made her first move."

"What she do?"

"Come to the Coffee Shop." Sonny says before hanging up. Jason hangs up and turns to Elizabeth. She can tell by his face that he must go. She frowns, but hugs him goodbye.

At Lucky's and Sam's, Lucky returns upstairs to Sam and starts to undress. Sam's lying on the bed looking at the latest fashions in a magazine not hearing Lucky coming in. He sneaks up on her and it startles her. They both laugh. Sam turns around on her back as Lucky lean over her. They look into each other's eyes.

"So who was at the door?"

"Believe it or not, it was Carly."

"What did she want? You know what, never mind I don't care."

"She was inviting us to Morgan's birthday party."

"I doubt that's the only reason she came over, but it doesn't matter. We need to get back to what we were doing."

"I think that's a great idea."

Lucky and Sam being kissing and soon started to make love again.

Across town, Jason arrives at the Coffee Shop to talk with Sonny. He walks into the office as Sonny was just getting off the phone. Jason moves closer to Sonny's desk as Sonny stands up.

"What's up?"

"Claudia Zacchara!"

"She came to see you?"

"I think she's trying to dig up something up on us. She's dangerous and I want her dead." Sonny demands. He turns to look at Jason who doesn't make any kind of facial expression.

At the Zacchara Mansion, Claudia paced back and forth checking her cell phone every second it seemed. She was waiting for a call from one of her informants about Sonny or Jason or both It didn't matter to her, she just wanted something she could use against them to gain the upper hand. Her dirty hand, she loves to play dirty. As she stops to check her cell again, it finally rings causing her to jump a little. She looks at the id and she recognizes the number, it's her informant. She answers with a huge grin on her face. The man begins to talk to her. She asks about the dirt he found on Sonny. He tells her, but she's not impressed and her grin goes away, so she asks about Jason. He tells her about Jason's past relationships with Robin and Sam. She thanks him for the useless information and slams her cell on the floor. She watches as it smashes in what looked like a thousand pieces. She puts her hands on her hips as she thinks. She unfortunately, she can't think of any good ideas at the moment. So she heads out to find Johnny.

Busybody Carly makes her way back to Elizabeth's, much to Elizabeth's dismay, but she opens the door anyways. This time Carly decides to stay in the doorway.

"What is it Carly?"

"When I was here earlier, I forgot to invite you to Morgan's birthday party on Saturday at my place. Bring your boys. That's all."

"I'm sure the boys would enjoy the party, I'll send them by Jason."

"I invited you also, you don't want to celebrate my kid's birthday?"

"You really want me there?"

"Duh, that's why I invited you. I might not like you, but you're marrying Jason which means I will have to tolerate you to so extent."

"Fine I'll be there with the boys and Jason. Goodbye now!"

Elizabeth closed the door in Carly's face, but not before Carly says, "Don't forget to bring a present". Elizabeth sighs then heads for the couch. She sits down and looks at the clock. It seems like Jason's been gone for hours now, it's getting dark. "I wonder what Jason's up to." She thought to herself.


	8. Chapter 8

Its night now as Claudia walks up to Kelly's. She peeks through the window and notices Johnny and Lulu holding hands and kissing. This makes her sick to her stomach, so she walks in to break it up.

"Hey John, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Johnny pulls away from Lulu. "What about? I'm in the middle of something."

"Yeah back up, okay?"

"Lulu, I wasn't talking to you."

"Too bad because I was talking to you."

"How about I make it so you can't talk anymore?" Lulu stands up and gets right in Claudia's face. Johnny jumps up as well.

"Okay you two, I don't want to see you guys fight. Lulu, excuse us for a sec please?"

"Sure why not and when you're done, you can find yourself a new girlfriend." Lulu grabs her stuff and leaves Kelly's.

"Wait, Lulu!" Johnny goes chasing after her.

"John!" Claudia yells, but he doesn't respond. She rolls her eyes and heads for the counter where Sam was busy stuffing take out boxes in a bag. She sits down and begins to breathe in the smell of Cheeseburger and French fries that Sam had for her and Lucky.

"Are the burgers and fries as good as they smell here?"

"Yes and then some. Did you want me to put in an order for you?"

"You work here?"

"Oh no, but I know the owner and he wanted me to hold down the fort while he goes to take the yummiest cookies I've ever had out of the oven. You should have one or lots."

"I can smell the cookies now. I think I'll have a few and yeah put in an order for the burger and fries to go."

Mike walks in with a plate full of cookies.

"Thanks Sam for covering for me." Claudia stares at Sam. "Here are your cookies. Tell Lucky I said hi."

"Anytime Mike and I will, oh and placed an order for her for a burger and some fries to go. See ya!"

"Bye!"

Claudia turns around and watches as Sam walks out the door as the wheels turn in her head.

"Was that Sam McCall?"

"Yeah, were you a fan of her show?"

"Show?"

"Everyday Heroes?"

"Oh yeah, I watched that show sometimes."

"Some cookies while you wait?"

"Sure, thanks."

Claudia waited until Mike was out of side before pulling out her cell and dialing her informant.

"Today's your luck day. The info you gave me, might just be useful after all. I want you to find me as much information you can on Sam McCall and get back to me pronto!"

Outside, Sam walks up to her car as a man slowly approaches her with a gun.

At Carly's, Carly finally makes her way back home. She walks over to her mantel that's filled with pictures of her, Jax, Michael, and Morgan. She picks up the picture of her and Jax on their wedding day. She tears begin to fall from her eyes as she runs her fingers over the picture. She places it quickly back on the mantel and dries her tears from her face. She sits on the couch and stares at the TV like just looking at it would turn it on. She shakes her head thinking she's an idiot and starts looking for the remote as a woman walks up behind her with the remote in hand. "Looking for this?" she asked. Carly stopped looking and turns around. "Thanks" Carly says as she takes the remote from the woman's hand and turns back around to watch TV then she freezes up before jumping up and turning around again. Carly was so stunned to see the woman that she backed up too much and fell backwards over the table. The woman couldn't help, but laugh.

Back to the Kelly's parking lot, the man slowly approaches Sam as she's putting the food in her car while pointing the gun in Sam's direction without her even noticing. As the man gets closer to her, he starts to realize she's not his target and puts his gun away. Sam drops her keys and he walks over to pick them up for her. They end up bending down at the same time. He startles her a bit and she says, "Jason?"

At Carly's, Carly sits up on the floor and stares at the woman in disbelief.

"What, what are you doing here? I mean, you can't be here. It's just wrong, just not right! Stop laughing at me!"

The woman tries to stop laughing. "You always did make me laugh Carly. You were always a good friend to me, to Jason, but right now you're being just plain old mean."

"I'm mean? What about you? You pretend to be dead all this time and now all of a sudden come back. Wait, you are dead. I'm seeing dead people."

"Actually, you're seeing one dead person, but I wouldn't be surprised if you get visits from some people."

Carly stands in silence as she looks at the woman across the room. She gets up off the floor and walks over to her.

"Can I touch you?" The woman rises her arms and hugs Carly. They wrapped their arms around each and hugged for it seemed like forever before they pulled away.

"I can't believe it. I missed you so much, Courtney."


	9. Chapter 9

In the Kelly's parking lot, Jason picks up Sam's keys and hands them to her. They both get back on their feet and just stare at each other for a moment. Sam decides to break the silence.

"Thank you, um I have to go."

"You're welcome. See you later, I guess."

"Yeah."

Sam gets into her car. Jason watches as she drives off taking a deep breath upset with himself because he could have killed Sam. Just as Jason was about to leave, Claudia walks into the parking lot.

"Jason, hey! What did you lose track of your bike?"

"Oh no, I'm just walking by. Bye" Jason turns around and walks away.

Claudia jogs a bit to catch up with him. "Wait, wait. Are you in a rush or something? I was wondering maybe we can play some pool later.

"Uh, no. I'm good." Jason says without stopping or even turning around. He continues to walk away.

"Just one question Jason, do you know Sam McCall?" Jason stops. "Of course you do. She's your ex-fiancée right? Why did that not work out?"

Jason turns around. "That's none of your business."

"Ah, I got your attention. So is this when you warn me to stay away from Sam or you'll kill me?"

"No, if you want to mess with Sam that's your prerogative, but just know you'll only be starting up trouble."

"Trouble from you?"

"No from her. Sam can hold her own; she doesn't need me to protect her."

"Sounds like we can be girlfriends."

"You can only be so lucky to have someone like Sam in your corner." Jason turns around and begins to walk away again.

"So you still do care?" Claudia shouts, but Jason doesn't answer. She watches as he disappears into the night. She walks up to her car and puts her food inside as she says to herself, "How can I use this Sam McCall to my advantage?"

At Carly's, Carly fights back the tears as she stand before her dead friend Courtney.

"I'm so glad to see you. Even though you called me mean." Carly jokes.

"Well you are being mean to me, Jax, and Jason. You don't spend time with Spencer, you let Jax walk out of here, and Jason, well, and you just can't let him be happy."

"Well I doubt Nikolas wants me anywhere near Spencer, Jax wanted to spend time with Brenda and Kate and not me, and Jason, well, Elizabeth is dangerous to him. So I need to break them up."

"You never know until you ask. As for Jax, well, he wants to be with you, but you keep pushing him away."

"Really? I didn't get that vibe from Jax."

"Well now you know, so when he comes back tell him how you feel."

"I guess I can do that and talk to Nikolas about spending time with Spencer."

"Great. I just want all my loved ones to be happy."

"What about Jason? Is Elizabeth the one that's going to make him happy?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Why not? If she is, then I'd back off right now. But if she's not, I will not stop until she's out of his life for good."

"That's just it Carly, you can't determine who's good for Jason and who's not. You're just going to end up making him unhappy in the end. Do you want to be the cause of Jason not finding true happiness?"

"No."

"So let it go. Jason needs to figure out on his own whether or not Elizabeth is right for him."

"I'll try my best, but I'm not making any promises." Carly and Courtney laughed and hugged.

Sam makes her way through the door. Lucky's standing near the TV about to put in a movie. He puts the movie down to help Sam bring in the food.

"Food, finally. Did you get side tracked by a sale again?"

Sam laughs as she puts the food on the table. "Not this time and my bumpers are still in place. I helped Mike out a little bit and guess what I got in return."

"No, not chocolate chip…."

"Cookies, yes!" Sam holds up the bag of cookies.

Lucky pulls Sam close to him. "I love you so much. Now give me the bag of cookies."

Sam laughs, "No, you have to wait. I don't want you to spoil your dinner now."

"Oh really, like you didn't eat one on the way home."

"That's not the point."

"You did, didn't you?"

Lucky chases Sam around the room trying to get the bag of cookies from her. It doesn't take him too long to catch up with her and he tackles her to the ground. He gets the bag and stands up in triumph. Sam lies on the floor not being able to stop laughing. Lucky opens the bag to get a cookie and takes a huge bit out of it with a dopey grin on his face. Sam gets up on her feet still laughing, but not as hard.

"You have chocolate on your face. Let me take care of that for you."

Sam and Lucky begin to kiss, but then stop.

"The food." Lucky says.

"Yes the food then the desert."

"I don't know, the cookie is really good now."

"Not that desert." Sam laughs.

Sam pulls Lucky over to the couch and the sit down to eat their food not knowing that Claudia was watching them through the window.


End file.
